Transmission-line insulator



Mar. 20, 192i).

F. W, SPRINGER. TRANSMISSION LINE INSULATOR.

FILED MAR. 'l, 119- Patented Mar. 20, 1923.

UNITED STATES FRANKLIN WESLEY SPRINGER, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

TRANSMISSION-LINE INSULATOR.

Application filed March 7, 1919. Serial No. 281,284.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANKLIN lVnsLnY SPRINGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin and State of Minnesota, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Transmission-Line Insulators. of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to insulators and has for an object to provide an insulator with a protective device, against lightning and other high voltage sources, connected therewith so as to form part of the insulator.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will be found in the detailed description thereof and are particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating my invention Fig. 1 is a front view of my invention. Fig. 2 is a side view of the same, Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view of the insulator showing one method of attaching the protective device, and Fig. 4 is a view of a modified form of the invention.

My invention consists of an insulator with a spark gap connected therewith which is best shown in Fig. 1. comprises an insulating portion 10 terminating at its top and bottom in metallic caps 11 and 12 is illustrated. These caps may be provided with eyes 13 and 14 or any other'form of support, and are secured to the insulating member 10 'in any desirable manner well known in the art.

To the lower metallic cap 12 of the insulator is secured a wire or rod 15 which is bent as isclearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

A wire or rod 26 similar to rod 15 is attached to the metallic member 11 of the insulator and, as shown in Fig. 1, is bent away from the plane 2()20 so as to have a portion 27 thereof symmetrically positioned with the end 25 of the rod 15 relative to the plane 2()-20. From that point on, said wire extends downward and is bent so as to continuously lie symmetrical with the portions 24, 22, and 21 of wire 15 at portions 28, 29, and 30 and terminating a short distance beyond the portion 29 at 31. This formation leaves the wires spaced, being most closely positioned at 22 and 2!), receding from each other at all other por tions and forming an upwardly flaring V at portions 24 and 28, constituting an equivalent of the common form of horn An insulator which gap. The two rods or wires 15 and 26 are made up of a pair of arcing horns, the lower end of one being fixed to the lower end of the insulator and the upper end of the other horn being fixed to the upper end of the insulator.

The operation of the device is very simple. WVhen lightning strikes the line, it will jump across the gap formed by wires 15 and 26 at 22-29, rather than break down the insulator due to the fact that the length of the gap between points 22 and 29 is less than the distance between the metallic caps 11 and 12. From the heat in the arc the same rises and due to the shape of the wires 15 and 26 at 24 and 28 said are gradually increases in length, breaking before or when it reaches the end of the gap at points 25 and 27, thus extinguishing the arc. The formation of the wire 15 at 18 is for the purpose of preventing the spark and are from jumping from the insulator cap to said wire at any point other than the desired gap 22-29.

If desired, the wires 15 and 26 may be provided with convex spheroidal members 32 and 33 situated at the portions 22 and 29 thereof. These members may be formed on the wires or may be secured to them as desired. It is a well known fact that the time-lag of a sphere gap is very small, the corona, brush discharge, and spark coming nearly together. The application .of this principle to the lightning arrester therefore decreases the time between the instant the lightning strikes the line and when it jumps, thus lessening the possible injury to the insulator as well as to the apparatus connected to the line.

One method of attaching wires 15 and 26 to the caps 11 and 12 is shown in Fig. 3, which illustrates wire 26 andcap 11. Bosses 34 and 35 are formed onsaid cap and are drilled with. parallel horizontal holes 36 and 37. Member 26 which is made of a straight piece of wire is bent in a semicircle at 38 and is inserted thru the holes 36 and 37. When in place, the extreme end is bent over as indicated at 39 to hold the wire rigid, after which the remainder of the member is bent as previously described.

The modification shown in Fig. 4 diflers principally in the feature of employing a single curved wire, which, however, permits only one end of the spark to rise when the same is to be broken. Here a wire 40secured to cap 12 is bent outwardly from the insulator at 41, extending nearly up to the top of the insulator from where it is brought up towards the cap 11 at 42, being most closely positioned to it at 43 and receding from it at 44 similar to the portion 24 of member 15. A short stem 45 is secured to the cap which terminates at 46 opposite the portion 43 of the wire 40. The operation of this form is similar to the other. The spark jumps across the gap formed at 43-46 and due to the heat, generated by the resulting power arc, said are travels upward at one end along the portion 44 of wire 40 at the same time elongating until it breaks.

The wire 40 and the stem 45 constitute a pair of arcing horns, the lower end of the wire 40. being fixed to the lower end of the insulator and the stem 45 being fixed to the upper end of the insulator.

If desired, point 46 of rod 45 may be made convex at 47 and portion 43 of wire 40 may be provided with a spheroidal member 48 similar to the construction shown at 33 in Fig. 2, for the purpose of reducing the time lag of the spark.

If it is found necessary a high resistance may be employed in connection with one of the horns. .One method of installing such a resistance is shown in Fig. 4. In this case member 45 is made of some suitable resistance material and is provided with a stem 49 which may be inserted in boss 35. Both this stem and boss may be made larger and the resistance varied at will by sliding said stem in the boss. The member 45 is held in place in cap 11 as by means of a set screw 50.

By means of my invention line maintenance would be greatly cut down, as breakage of insulators by lightning would be reduced. If desired, my improved insulator might be used only occasionally; say at every other pole. This would still safeguard the intermediate insulators as Well as those of my invention.

I claim:

An insulator comprising an insulating member, means for supporting a line wire, means for supporting the insulator, a pair of arcing horns, the lower end of one horn being fixedly secured to the bottom of the insulating member, the upper end of the other horn being fixedly secured to the top of the insulator, said horns being arranged to approach each other to form a horizontal spark gap, whereby the are moves upwardly parallel to the length of the insulator.

FRANKLIN WVESLEY SPRINGER. 

